Fabric



F. B. RILEY March 5, 1929.

FABRIC Filed July 16, 1923 4 sneet's-sneex 1 March 5, 1929. F. B. RILEY 1,704,344

FABRIC Filed July 16, 1925 4 sheets-sa a 2 v In rear B. RILEY FABRIC March 5,1929.

Filed July 1a, 1923 4 spets-sneet 3 Patented Mar. 5, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS B. RILEY, OF NEWTON HIGHLANDS, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNO R TO HEY- WOOD-WAKEFIELD oomrm, or nosron, MASSACHUSETTS, A] eonronarxoar or MASSACHUSETTS.

FABRIC.

Application filed July 16, 1923. Serial Ho. 651,741.

The present invention relates to a new form of fabric and more particularly to a fabric composed of non-flaccid material such as cane, reed, twisted paper and the like.

It will be evident to those skilled in the art that fabrics composed of reed strands, or reed fabric, so called, are commonly woven with a series of spaced stakes about which are woven filler strands. The stake members ordinarily have sufficient rigidity to be selfsupporting and to resist distortion or bending of the fabric in one direct-ion. This type of reed fabric, so called, is largely used in connection with the manufacture of wicker furniture, baby carriages and similar articles, in some instances the fabric being woven directly upon the article and conforming closely to the exact shape of the article and in other cases the fabric being woven to a regular predetermined shape other thant-he Sha e of the article and thereafter applied to t e frame of the article and shaped thereover.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a new and greatly improved form of fabric which may be successfully incorporated in so called wicker furniture, baby carriages and similar articles of various types in place of the present reed fabric and which from the standpoint of strength and artistic appearance presents many advantages over the present reed fabric. A further object of the present invention is to produce a new form of fabric which not only is susceptible of use in all of the various ways in which reed fabric is now employed but 111 addition, due to its inherent strength and rigidit in all directions, may be successfully emplbyed in a manner not possible with the present fabric.

With these and other objects in view, the various features of the invention consist in certain novel features of construction, com

binations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed, the advantages of which will be obvious to those skilled in the art from the following description.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred form of the invention Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, are respectively a plan and elevations partly in section of a conventional form of the new fabric employing round strands and stakes; Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate similar views of a fabric employing round strands with the weaving strands extending about two of the post members 6 to o inclusive, are views illustrating a form fabric produced by the employment of round post members of different diameter; Fi s.

t) to 11, inclusive, are views illustrating a fa ric produced by causing the weaving membars to pass first about twopost members and thereafter about the opposite side of a single post member; Figs. 12 to 14, inclusive, il1ustrate a fabric produced by alternating two weaving members and two spacer members;

Fig. 15 to l7, inclusive, illustrate a fabric produced by theemiloyment alternately of fiat and round stran for the post members;

Figs. 18 to 20, inclusive, illustrate a fabric produced through the employment of substantially flat strands; Figs. 21 and 22 illustrate partially diagrammatically the manner in which either set of strands when the fabric is produced mechanically may be the warps and either set the wefts, Fig.21 illustrating a constructionin which the post members, socalled, are the warps and the weaving f andspacer strands the wefts, Fig. 22 illus trating a construction in which the weaving and spacer Strands are the warps and the post. members the w'efts; Figs. 23 to 29, inclusive,

illustrate the new form of fabric produced in a variety of predetermined and differing sha es, in these cases the post members ex-. ten ing lengthwise of the shape and the spacer and weaver members extending circularly about the shape; and Figs. 30 to 32,.inelusive, illustrate still another form. of fabric incorporating both flat and round strands in a unique design.

Upon referring to the illustratedembodi ment of the invention, it will be observed that the present form of fabric consists of aseries of substantially parallel strands 50 upon opposite sides of which are disposed a series of stakes 52'. The stakes extend at right angles to the first series of strands and in the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs.

1 and 3 successive stakes 52 are disposed a1 ternately upon opposite sides of the strands which extend substantially in the direction of the strands 50 and pass in and out about opposite sides of the stakes 52. The Strands 50, the strands 50serving to space and 10-,

54- assume a wavy contour, as indicated c early in Fig. 2, and lock the two sets of. stakes and strands in assembled position. As will be evident from an inspection of the draw ings, the two sets of strands and stakes 50 and 52 extend substantially straight with respect to the plane of the fabric, except as they may be bent slightly to conform to the contour of an article in which the fabric is embodied. The incorporation of these two sets of substantially straight strands extending both lengthwise and transversely of the fabric directions.

permits the empl yment, if so desired, of substantially unyielding strands which impart strength and rigidity to the fabric in all The weaving strands extending in and out on opposite sides of the straight strands impart a characteristic and desirable appearance to the fabric and produce a fabric which lends itself admirably to ornamentation "in a variety of ways. Furthermore, the fact thatthe weaving strands pass upon opposite sides of successive straight stakes which are in turn disposed upon opposite sides of straight spacing strands gives dis tinct thickness and body to the faoiic which is not possible to obtain with fabrics previously made from material of this character.

For convenience of description, the strands 50 are termed spacer strands the stakes 52 disposed alternately upon opposite sides of the strands 50 are termed post niei'nbers and'the strands 54: serving to lock the strands 50 and 52 together are termed weaver members. It will be evident to those skilled in. the art that although the fabric shown in the accompanying drawings comprises three sets of strands, nevertheless the spacer members might be dispensed with and the post members retained in different planes oifset from one another by causing the post members to extend diagonally in diiferent directions, as by having two sets of post members each set extending diagonally in a given direction, the weaver members passing about opposite sides of the post members to lock the two sets of post members in assembled relation.

The present fabric is most conveniently produced by assembling the spacer members and weaver members in the proper relation and forming sheds successively in the weaver members through which the post members are passed, these sheds being disposed successively above and below the spacer memhere.

From an inspection of the various figures of the drawings, it will be evident that by causing the weaver members to pass about opposite sides of succ ssive pest members which are in turn disposed upon opposite sides of spacer members a fabric is produced having a depth equivalent to the thickness or diameter of five strands, whereas in the ordinary reed fabric, so called, the depth is equiv alent to the aggregate thickness or diameter of only three strands. Thus the present fabric presents a much heavier and more durable appearance than existing types of reed fabric and in addition the pronounced series of waves which are formed eliminate the tendency to a flat appearance and affords a desirable contrast with the possibility of pleasing shadow effects.

Figs. l to 20, inclusive, illustrate numerous fabrics embodying the characteristic features of the present invention. For example, Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate a fabric in which the weaver members pass about the opposite sides of two post members 52, all of the strands being round and of the same diameter. Figs. 6 to 8, inclusive, illustrate a fabric similar to Fig. 1, except that the post members 52 vary in diameter as indicated, each set of small post members having interposed therebetween a post member of substantially larger diameter. Figs. 9 to 11, inclusive, illustrate a construc tion in which the weaver members 54; pass first about the same side of the two post members 52 and'thereafter about the opposite side of a single post member. Figs. 12 to 14:, inclusive, illustrate a fabric in which the spacer members 50 and the weaving members 54 are assembled in pairs, each twopairs of spacermembers being separated by a pair of weaving members and vice versa, the post members of this fabric being also of greater diameter than the weaving and spacer members. Figs. 15 to 17, inclusive, illustrate a construction in which aseries of round weaver and spacer members are interlocked alternately with a pair of round post members 52' and flat post members 60. Figs. 18 to 20, inclusive illustrate the fabric produced through the utilization of flat strands for the spacer, weaver and post members. Fig. 21 illustrates somewhat diagrannnatically the production of the new form of fabric with the post members 52 as warps and the spacerand weaver members 50 and 54 as wefts or fillers. Fig. 22 illustrates diagrammatically the usual method of making the fabric in which the post members 52 are weft or filler members and theweaver and spacer members 50 and 54- are warps. Fig. 23 illustrates diagrammatically the production of a curved fabric in'which the posts 52 maybe arranged in nonparallel relation and have a series of weaver and spacer members 50 and 54 woven there about. Figs. 24: to 29, inclusive illustrate fab rics embodying the characteristic features of the invention and woven in predetermined contours. Figs. 28 and 29 illustrate somewhat diagrammatically the relative positions of the post members, spacer members and weaver members. Figs. 30 to 32 illustrate a further form of fabric embodying the features of the invention in which a series of round post members 52 alternate with flat post members 7 5 and a series of round spacer members 50 alternate with flat spacer members 7 6, each flat spacer member being separated from the series of round spacer members by a single roundweaver member 54.

Although the spacin strands have been described as straight an lying in the plane of the fabric, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that in the practical operation of producing such a fabric a relatively slight distortion or bending of the spacer members may take place due to the pull exercised by the Weaving members and the relatively greater rigidity of the post members extending transversely to the spacers. If the spacer members have greater rigidity than the post members then the pull on the weaver members may cause a slight distortion of the post members rather than the spacers.

I claim:

1. A stake and strand fabric of non-flaccid material comprising a series of spaced parallel stakes positioned in two parallel spaced planes, and a plurality of closel spaced and contacting parallel strands o substantial cross-section extending lengthwise of the fabric with certain of the strands lying in a plane intermediate the lanes ofthe stakes and certain of the stran s extending about opposite sides of the stakes and repeatedly intersecting the planes of the stakes and the intermediate plane of the strands to interweave the stakes and strands and present a distinctly undulating contour to the finished fabric.

2. A stakeand strand fabric of non-flaccid material comprising a series of spaced parallel stakes positioned in two parallel spaced planes, and a plurality of closely spaced and contacting parallel strands of uniform size and substantial cross-section extendinglengthwise of the fabric with certain of the strands 1 'ng in a plane intermediate the lanes of this stakes and certain of the stran extending about opposite sides of the stakes and repeatedly intersecting the planes of the stakes and the intermediate plane of the strands to interweave the stakesand strands and present a distinctly undulating contour to the finished fabric.

FRANCIS RILEY. 

